Episode 40 - Jennifer Crystal Chien - “Keep On Keeping On”

Asian-American FilmmakerChinese-Taiwanese American FilmmakerNonbinary Filmmaker

Aug 21

August 25, 2023

In this episode, I speak with filmmaker, mentor, activist, and co-founder of Re-Present Media, Jennifer Crystal Chien. During our conversation, we chatted about how she got into docs, her commitment to advocacy, and the field-building and changing work at Re-Present Media. Jennifer's theory of change for the field is rooted in liberation and the spirit of the song she picked for this week’s episode by the late great Curtis Mayfield, “Keep On Keeping On.”

Photo Credit; Jennifer Crystal Chien

[Image Description: Jennifer, pictured from the chest up, wears a black sweater. a grey, knitted winter cap, and a pair of black framed glasses. She looks directly into the camera.]

Re-Present Media Logo

[Image Description: The words “Re-Present Media” are printed across to the top in orange against a white background. An orange film reel frame contains the white letters “R, E. P."]

About Jennifer Crystal Chien

Jennifer Crystal Chien is a documentary filmmaker focusing on personal storytelling from immigrants and people of color. In 2017, she co-founded Re-Present Media, a grassroots nonprofit that advocates for personal storytelling in documentary film and nonfiction media. In addition to presenting films with community dialogues by established filmmakers, Re-Present Media also offers professional development for emerging filmmakers and coordinates field-wide advocacy campaigns to recognize and elevate voices from underrepresented communities.

About Re-Present Media

Re-Present Media's purpose is to humanize media representations of underrepresented communities through a focus on personal stories from those communities in documentary films and nonfiction media. Re-Present Media was founded in 2017. We started by presenting the work of underrepresented filmmakers focused on personal storytelling with our first event at the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center's annual festival. In 2018, we hosted a film series, Tales from the Middle East, that brought together faith-based communities, immigrants, and other local community members to view and discuss a set of films focused on reconciling relationships of conflict among Middle Eastern and American communities. From 2019-2021, we produced Telling Our Personal Stories, a two-part public film series and professional development program for emerging Oakland-based BIPOC filmmakers and their community advocates.